


Once and Future

by spowell Once and Future Series (SPowell)



Series: Once and Future [1]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Arthur Pendragon Returns, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-09
Updated: 2014-05-09
Packaged: 2018-01-24 03:31:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1590110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SPowell/pseuds/spowell%20Once%20and%20Future%20Series
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur finds himself in a new world with Merlin.</p><p>Disclaimer: Characters belong to BBC and Shine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Once and Future

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kitty_fic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitty_fic/gifts).



> Written for Camelot Lance Challenge 3: The Big One, using prompt words Camelot and stocks.
> 
> Thanks to kitty_fic, because I've always wanted to write a reincarnation or Arthur Returns fic, and she's the one who encouraged me to do the prompt challenge. (((hugs kitty)))

Arthur remembers closing his eyes on Merlin’s tear-stained face, the pain taking him away somewhere white and numbing and timeless.

He remembers opening his eyes on Merlin’s face, still wet with tears, and wondering if it had been mere moments that had passed.

But no, that couldn’t be. No heavy weight of armour. No debilitating pain. And Merlin’s smile…

“Did you just kiss me?” he asks, moving a hand to his tingling lips, and Merlin smiles wider, the idiot.

“True love’s kiss,” Merlin says on a laugh that sounds slightly unhinged.

In the end, it’s not the oddest thing to happen to Arthur in this new world.

Every day is filled with something weird and wonderful, and sometimes frightening, although Arthur would never admit to that. He is king of Camelot after all; although, apparently, he isn’t. Not anymore.

Merlin still calls him “sire” though, mostly in the privacy of their bedroom, which is another novelty; because the way Arthur remembers things, he and his manservant did not sleep together. However, nothing feels so right as being in Merlin’s arms—the fact that Arthur both left and re-entered the world wrapped in them seems to validate that.

There is much to learn, and Merlin is Arthur’s teacher. Gone is the impossibly ridiculous boy from long ago whom Arthur used to put in the stocks; Merlin is a man—a man of great magic, and evidently a man who has been impatiently awaiting Arthur’s return for centuries. It’s difficult for Arthur to fathom, and Merlin stays quiet about it, refusing to speak much of his time alone.

Everything is different now; easier, yet more difficult. With all the new inventions to lessen life’s burdens, Arthur can’t quite figure out why everyone goes about in such a rush of anxiety and haste. People pass by him in a blur of activity, never stopping to enjoy anything for very long.

But Merlin isn’t like that. Merlin spends long amounts of time doing things such as just staring at Arthur. Arthur’s caught him at it—particularly in the mornings when Arthur awakens, stretching his limbs and opening his eyes to find Merlin’s luminous blue orbs pinned on him, face soft in the glow of early sunlight through the thin curtains. Merlin’s mouth lifts in the beginnings of a smile, and Arthur’s lips form an answer. At these moments, Arthur’s heart feels too large for his chest, and he forgets what century he lives in, this one or the one from before. In the end it doesn’t matter, because the emotion is the same.

Merlin is infinitely patient as he teaches Arthur to drive, an endeavor that makes Arthur sweat and curse and wonder how he was ever fit to rule a kingdom if he can’t even smoothly maneuver a heap of metal down the street. Afterward, Merlin washes Arthur in the thing called a “shower,” cleaning Arthur’s body as he used to as his servant, only in a much more intimate way that quickly has Arthur taking Merlin against the slicked tiled wall, their pleasure lasting long after the water grows cool. Arthur never knew buggery could be so good, could never in that other life put a name to the feelings Merlin engenders in Arthur’s heart and soul—in the very depths of his being—feelings that had no outlet until now, when he can fuck them into Merlin and see them burning back at him through Merlin’s eyes.

Arthur remembers finding out about Merlin’s magic, the feelings of betrayal and hurt. Why hadn’t Merlin told him? Moreover, why hadn’t Arthur _seen_? He isn’t afraid of the magic now, and can, in fact, logically work out why Merlin kept it from him during that other life. Arthur’s very soul demands to be near it, and near Merlin; and Arthur finds himself gravitating toward his lover even in sleep, many times awakening to find himself sprawled half-way upon Merlin’s body, Merlin’s heartbeat a dense thud against Arthur’s ear.

Merlin has dreams sometimes, dreams that make him cry out and thrash, waking Arthur from his slumber to scramble to his knees and gather a sweating Merlin, distraught and always calling out to him, into his arms.

These nightmares are Arthur’s only glimpse at how lonely and desolate Merlin’s been without him. Each and every time, Arthur spends a long while holding and kissing Merlin, skin against skin, until he’s fully awake, whispering to him in the darkness of their bedroom.

“I’m here; I won’t leave you again. Shhh, it’s all right now.”

And always after, because Merlin asks, Arthur makes love to him, slowly and passionately, until Merlin inevitably begs for Arthur to go faster, thrust harder.

“I want to feel you, Arthur. I want to know you’re really here with me.” Merlin’s eyes, shining wide in the darkness, locked with Arthur’s just as his body is locked with Arthur’s, trembling with need.

Arthur always obliges, driving into Merlin’s warmth, pushing the bed against the wall so hard that it leaves marks in the plaster, loving the feel of Merlin’s fingers digging into the skin of his back, heels pressing against his arse. They come to their release together, always together.

Merlin shows Arthur impossible things, such as vessels that fly in the air and carry people places, and boxes that hold a person’s image to keep for a lifetime. A square called a _television_ that’s mainly for entertainment purposes, and something called _rocket ships_ that can travel to space, wherever that may be. There’s a thing called a _telephone_ that allows Arthur to speak to Merlin when he isn’t in the room, or even in the same building as Arthur; and it has a smaller counterpart that Merlin calls a _mobile_ that fits in Arthur’s pocket and can do even more.

But nothing’s as impossible or improbable as the fact that Arthur has returned to Merlin and has Merlin’s love; and that somehow they aren’t through finding adventure together, even though adventures don’t look quite the same as they used to these days.

Merlin says Arthur has returned for a reason. That he has a destiny.

Arthur thinks his destiny is Merlin and always has been.

 


End file.
